(Some important considerations here to think about. Rowland).

One [Baptist pastor] wrote: I also recall stories about George Beverley Shea and Ira Sankey – professional song leaders on a stage – hardly children of the revolution! One might also think of the cathedral choirs that appear on our TV screens every Christmas. Are these representatives of more liturgical churches open to all their members or only those who can hit a high “C”?

Another Baptist pastor responded:

____ is absolutely right here. The production of worship music that is beyond the scope of the average congregation and the consequent professionalisation of worship music is a major problem that has emerged repeatedly since early medieval times and occurs in both “high” and “low” forms of worship. It is somewhat ironic that the two forms of worship where it is most marked in the present generation are in high classical liturgical churches and the contemporary praise-and-worship churches. In both, the primary instrument of worship is no longer the gathered voices of the whole congregation, but the ensemble of music specialists up the front. In both this creates the serious risk of the service of worship becoming a concert in which the “audience”, at best, sings along with the “performers”. Both worship styles can be utilised in ways that do enable the congregation to be front and centre, but both are very prone to seeking quality over full active participation and so marginalising the congregation. It would be interesting to see a careful analysis of the trends in the music coming out of Hillsong over the last decade, but the anecdotal evidence says that in has been becoming increasingly vocally complex and therefore more and more difficult for the congregation to even join in with. What a bizarre irony it is to see the champions of “culturally relevant” worship music doing exactly the same thing we have all criticised the medieval church choirs of doing. Only the music genre has changed!

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